large breast problems

1. get thee to La Leche League.

you will find help and support and friendship in a monthly meeting. a variety of people will have a variety of ideas. you will also have valuable info to share. ask them to lie down on the floor and show you how they nurse in bed. they will be happy to.

2. buy the breastfeeding foam support called, "my brest friend".

i found it reallyhelpful. it makes a kind of shelf around you. should not be too hard to find.

3. buy a buckwheat hull pillow.

it really helps with lying down nursing because it keeps its shape under your neck. will help you to sleep better.

4. the following is slowly, simultaneously happening. your breasts are slowly decreasing, and your babies mouth is getting bigger.

he is also becoming an old hand at nursing, which helps. your situation is temporary.

5. review proper positioning. bring the baby to the breast, NOT the breast to the baby. this leads to uncomfortable habits. you want tummy to tummy.

6. take calcium and MAGNESIUM when you go to bed and more MAGNESIUM by itself when you get up in the middle of the night. always with a full glass of water, because you're eating rocks.

this will help you to avoid skelatal-muscular pain and will relax you and help you to sleep heavier. it takes alot of mineral to make milk.

if youcould describe your position in more detail, and how you are hurting exactly, you will get better advice.

look in the phone book for la leche league, the meeting will be really helpful, i think.

rrr

HANG IN THERE!! You can do it!!

I second and third contacting LLL, they are mothers who have been there/done that.

I just yesterday, was fitted for the FIRST time, with a nursing bra.

This is my 3rd kid who is nursing too! I breastfed all my children, my 2nd child until he was over 2, and still never was fitted, just wore what I thought was right. Well, I shocked the lady who was fitting me, I was squeezed in a 36 DD, she measured me at a 34 G!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(her site has the best deals on large breasted nursing women-it's her specialty-

www.breakoutbras.com )

Anyway, I sleep with my one month old, just roll over when he grunts at night (he doesn't get a chance to really wake up, he starts grunting and I get a nipple close to him and bam, he latches back on and is right back to sleep....ahhhhhhhhhhh,,,, lots of sleep for me!) and it works great, also during the day if we take a nap I nurse laying down. OR, I get a blanket and place it under him to prop him up a bit and it supports him and my arms/back a great deal. The thing is, you will probably shrink a cup or 2 in the next month or so when things start averaging out, that is what I always found with me anyway.

Good luck!!!!!

I hear ya. :
I was a 34G when DD was born and have now reduced to a 32F.
We've mastered side lying at night, but what I do is put a pillow behind my back and then roll slightly away from her so my breast 'lifts up' just enough so that the nipple is squared with her mouth, but my breast isn't actually off the mattress. Then she can latch on. I still have to guide my breast with one hand, and I usually sleep with that hand under my breast all night long, but it's way more comfortable on my back leaning into the pillow like that... Try it out and see if it works for you.

I'm a 34G, and I had similar problems at first. It took us quite a while to master the side lying position. Like about 4 months or so. It still isn't one of my favorites.

After my baby got too long for the football hold, we stuck to the cross cradle hold most of the time. Eventually, both of us got comfortable enough with it that I was able to start switching to the regular cradle hold after he was latched on. For the first few months, I got out of bed to feed him every time at night. I moved the nursing chair into the bedroom, and it wasn't too bad.

Eventually I did figure out how to nurse him in bed. I think around 2 months I started sitting up cross legged with pillows behind me, and then I eventually started moving into more of a reclining position. Now I can lie flat, and he just drapes himself across me.

You will eventually settle into a routine that works for both of you. You just need to try lots of things and watch people nurse lots of ways until you find some positions that are comfortable. It is incredibly frustrating that a lot of the "standard" advice is apparently for small breasted women. I know that I found my Boppy to be the biggest joke. Between my large breasts that hang to my belly button, my large baby, and my short waist, the baby's head was several inches higher than my breasts when we tried to use it.

Me too, me too! I am so jealous when I see mamas nursing their babies without having to HOLD their breast to support it. My twins are almost 8 months old, and I have now shrunk to about an F cup. . . but just because my breasts are less full doesn't make them any less big really. They'e just floppier . the floppiness is beneficial to the side-lying nursing, though. I can pretty much lie on my back and nurse a baby who's lying at my side . I still use my boppy when I want to be able to use just one hand to support my breast (and not have to support the baby too). I've found that when I don't support my breast, my nipples get really sore.

It is starting to get easier, though. I remember someone telling me that once my babies' heads were as big as my breasts, I wouldn't need to support my breasts anymore. Well this milestone has just about been reached, and I have been having some success.

I try to focus on the positive aspects, like being able to nurse from the top breast (when lying on my side), or being able to nurse the babies while they're buckled into their carseats (I can keep my seatbelt on too because my breasts really do stretch THAT far!).

IKWYM!

Lex

CO-SLEEPING AND HEAVIER SLEEPING

that was an important question. it's all relative. for people who feel like they aren't getting any sleep at all, a little heavier sleeping helps a lot.

magnesium does not act on your body like a drug or alcohol.

taking extra magnesium, as well as choosing magnesium-rich foods like leafy greens, helps to replace an important mineral that's going out of you and into your breastmilk.

signs of magnesium deficiency can be:

sleeplessness, anxiety, headache, cramping and other skelatal-muscular pain and constipation.

many of these can happen to the pregnant and nursing mother, now and then.

i've had a lot of relief from a little extra magnesium.

rrr

Wow! Thank you all so much for the advice & support. I feel much better.

Once we have a reliable car I can use, I definitely plan on attending some LLL meetings. That would be invaluable. Thanks for the suggestion!

And, yep, we do use the "top" breast when side-lying and that works better, but my back still hurts. I guess it's the way I have to curve my back coupled with the fact that we have only a full-size bed. So, it's impossible to put something behind my back as I have barely enough room to stay on the bed as it is. I'm heavy, too, so that doesn't help. Thankfully my 6'1" DH weighs only 160 pounds or so...

And rrr, thanks for the magnesium suggestion. I don't know if that's my problems, but, gee, I have *all* of those symptoms. I'll try it!

Thanks again everyone!


Susan

how can you make your bed bigger?

can you make a bed for your husband right next to your bed?

more room would definitely help.

i cannot be trapped in the middle. there's just no way.

buckwheat hull pillow.

find the LLL meeting on line, until you can get to a meeting.

call and talk to the leader and find out if any regular members live close to you and can pick you up. we do that in our meeting.

rrr